Tuesday, January 30, 2007

"Emotion can be good and it can be bad," Bradley said in a pre-event interview. "For me, (before 2006) all the public emotion had been bad. Repairing the relationship with me and the media and the fans, it's not an easy thing to do when you create a situation for yourself like I did, and some of that isn't going to go away overnight. But if I continue to exhibit good behavior, that's the only way to move past that.

"I'm still going to get kicked out of a game now and then, I'm sure, but I don't want it to blow up into a whole spectacle again."

At Saturday's FanFest at the Coliseum, Bradley proved to be one of the club's most popular players, and he also did wave after wave of interviews, far more than any of the other A's. He had a big smile on his face all day, both in fan sessions and media sessions.

When several players were asked during a fan question-and-answer session about their most embarrassing moments on the field, Bradley promptly mentioned the well-publicized incidents in which he tossed balls on the field and threw an empty bottle that had been thrown at him back into the stands.

"Those are pretty negative embarrassing moments for me," he said. "You live, you learn."
At that point, teammate Adam Melhuse jumped in and noted that, while everyone had heard bad things about Bradley before he arrived in Oakland, "Talk about a classy guy," Melhuse said. "No. 1, standup, unbelievable teammate."

Bradley put down his microphone, got up, crossed the stage and hugged the A's backup catcher to "awws'' and applause.

Aww. That's sweet.

Not so sweet: "I'm still going to get kicked out of a game now and then." I'm sure Billy Beane would like to know how many games Milton is planning on being ejected from so he can adjust his paycheck accordingly.